DENVER  Team Clinton is doing damage control on a series of comments by Hillary Clinton about the former first couples wealth.

Former President Bill Clinton on Tuesday defended his wife as not out of touch, and lashed out at the criticism during an appearance at the Clinton Global Initiative America conference.

With Hillary and Chelsea Clinton looking on from the audience of a hotel ballroom, he explained that Hillary Clintons comment two weeks ago that the couple was dead broke when they left the White House was factually true.

He also criticized reporters for not including context in stories about the former first ladys discussion of her work to help the less fortunate during her career, previewing a message Clinton supporters say the couple needs to harp on in the weeks and months ahead.

In response to questions from NBCs David Gregory, Bill Clinton said his wife had once offered legal assistance to people who couldnt afford it and fought for paid leave for pregnant mothers in the 1970s. He also said that he and the former secretary of State go to their local grocery store on the weekends and talk to people in our town.

We know whats going on, the former president said.

Several longtime Clinton allies said they werent sure his comments would end the criticism, which came on the heels of several stumbles in which Hillary Clinton tried to explain away her finances.

The comments have left even some allies of the Clintons bewildered.

I dont want to acknowledge that its been a problem, but its been a problem, said one former Clinton aide who maintains ties with those in the former New York senators inner circle.

The former aide said Hillary Clinton needs to refine her message on the issue, particularly in the months ahead when she will campaign for Democrats in the midterm elections.

Its tricky for someone to be promoting a memoir, where they need to be talking about themselves, but talk about other people instead, the former Clinton staffer said. But she needs to use these opportunities to tell stories about the people shes met. She needs to say, When I was here I met X and she did Y and thats led to Z, which has framed her policy thinking. She needs to ground the conversation.

Hillary Clinton made the dead broke comment during her first interview to promote her book Hard Choices. The remark, to ABCs Diane Sawyer, overshadowed the opening days of her book tour.

And this past weekend, Clinton inadvertently highlighted her finances again when she told The Guardian that unlike the truly well off, she and the former president pay ordinary income tax, and their wealth only came through dint of hard work.

The comments have provided an opening for Republicans to criticize Clinton ahead of a possible 2016 run for the White House.

The Clintons still feel the need to feign that they are still in touch with the struggles of regular Americans, said Tim Miller, the communications director for America Rising. He laments being the president with the lowest net worth which is akin to saying his floors are made of the cheapest marble. Then he goes on to say that they talk with people in their town. They live in one of the most elite, moneyed towns in America.

The Clintons have lived in a 1 percent bubble for so long, their experience has become warped, and thats a major problem in a presidential campaign, Miller added. The couples home is in Chappaqua, N.Y.

As the book tour winds down, supporters of the couple say Hillary Clinton has to speak more about her foundation work  on womens and girls issues  and her work as a senator, when she devoted much of her time working on issues in upstate New York.

Shes gotta tell stories, the former aide continued. Its a skill to answer a question about yourself by talking about someone else. And shes got to find a way to incorporate some of that. It shouldnt be an add-on. It should be the central thing shes doing. 

Bill Clinton on Tuesday tried to hammer home his wifes long-running work on behalf of the working class.

He said Americans dont resent somebody else doing well. They resent that theyre not getting a fair deal.

You just have to be transparent and tell the truth, he said.

Another former longtime Clinton aide who also still advises Hillaryland from time to time, said that the No. 1 thing the Clinton camp can do is dont panic.

A lot of this stuff comes and goes and some things stick and other things dont, the former aide said. I dont see it being a long-term personal problem because in a personal sense shes not disconnected to everyday people. It actually very much defines who she is.

The former adviser said the comparisons to former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney are different because people didnt know him that well.

That narrative was part of their introduction to him, the adviser said.

"With Hillary and Chelsea Clinton looking on from the audience of a hotel ballroom, he explained that Hillary Clintons comment two weeks ago that the couple was dead broke when they left the White House was factually true.

Interesting, Bill is usually pretty politically savy but he's kicking a stinkball on this one. Drop it. Drop it now. It's a can't win argument. No working person is going to buy it, rather, they will resent it, no matter what technicalities he tries to sell. To have the gall to try to make the argument is in itself proof that you are hopelessly out of touch and firmly entrenched in the 1%.

Like the three other living former presidents, Jimmy Carter and the two George Bushes, Clinton receives a $201,000 annual pension. But that just scratches the surface of the government benefits he shares with his wife Hillary.

The total for 2014 also includes $157,000 for staff salaries and benefits, $414,000 for office space and $9,000 for phone bills.

In all, The Washington Post first reported, taxpayers are providing Clinton with $944,000 in post-presidential pay and benefits.

That tab was $1.28 million in 2002, the year after he left office, according to a Congressional Research Service report cited by the Post and the Washington Free Beacon..............."

Remember that great line “You can’t handle the truth”. With the Clintons whether it was political policy, personal behavior and insight, interpersonal relationships, these narcissists never knew the truth.

Hillary is damaged goods, a known liar who can’t be trusted who is a Muzzie sympathizer that runs around with a gal who is heavily connected to the Muslim Brotherhood plus all the other baggage she carries around. Sorry Ms. Clinton but we’re not buying that you’re the grandmotherly type; more like Lizzie Borden type with a little Norman Bates thrown in for good measure but all grown up.

The only "good" thing to come out of Hillary's disastrous book tour is the new campaign cry: "Another Clinton administration? Are you nuts."

(Cackle) Will look nice on a bumper sticker.

===============================================

Even more delicious is that Hillary's disastrous book roll-out was managed by Dudester Tommy Vietor---Obama's van-driver with ntl security clearance who Obama appointed his NSA advisor; Vietor sat in on WH Situation Room crisis meetings.

Feel safer, now, America?

DUDESTER VIETOR offered up a truly laughable assesment of Hillary''s hellish book tour. The Secretary enjoyed spending this week talking about 'Hard Choices' and working with President Obama to restore Americas leadership in the world, he said in an email. Shell continue to be relaxed, candid and direct.

The Clintons are relying heavily on "white privilege" to get back into office. The Clintons' have benefitted from, and are climbing back into office, using privileges far beyond those of the working class voter.

"White privilege" denotes the array of advantages the Clintons have cultivated over years in public office. They are over-shadowed by the endless perks of "white privilege":

<><> massive wealth....

<><> multiple homes in posh enclaves....

<><> the chain of high public offices....

<><> privileged friends in high places....

<><> global connections....

<><> constant affirmations of their own worth....

<><> greater social status...

<><> the expansive freedoms wealth and connections provide...

<><> unlimited access to the press to speak freely.....

<><> Bill/Hillary memoirs made millions....

<><> book deal signed in Dec 2000 for $8 million....

<><> three tax-exempt family foundations worth hundreds of millions....

"He also said that he and the former secretary of State go to their local grocery store on the weekends and talk to people in our town."

Oh, how sweet of Billie. They actually talk to the "little people". This just begs for a follow up question. Really, you go to the grocery store. So, how much does a loaf of bread cost at your grocery store?

Gaming the system is the name of the Clinton game---the conniving Clintons will say and do anything to get their filthy hands on our tax dollars.

BACKSTORY When Billy, the Boy From Hope, burst upon the political scene as a presidential candidate....he duped the voters and coached his Arkansas Mafia friends to say, Money doesnt mean anything to Bill Clinton"........

Now we hear he got a hundred million dollars while his wife controlled the State Dept checkbook......monies that were meant for Haiti (the place where the Clintons spent their honeymoon).

BETTER ADD THIS IN, TOO News reports say the State Department announced it has "no idea" what happened to $6 billion used to pay its contractors..... a special management alert warned significant financial risk and a lack of internal control at State has led to billions of unaccounted dollars over the last six years....under Hillary's watch.

Becoming president has a pretty good monetary return. That poor boy from Hope, Ark, made over $200,000,000.00 (that we know of) as a public servant.

=============================================

Lawyers Bill and Hillary have held no other jobs but public service---they didn't have a pot to *** in in Arkansas---didn't even own a home. But they are experts at gaming the "public service" system for themselves. The Clintons conniving has enriched them. They are now worth more than $200 million dollars.....and counting.

How did they make the money? In several ways.

(1) Bill's calculated moves w/ his presidential pen and official policies profited numerous cronies and entities.....who are now being hit up for donations to the /three Clinton tax-exempt "foundations.....and to enrich Hillary.

(2) Bill's pardon pen was useful in pardoning diverse voting blocs which got Hillary elected to the US Senate as a prelude to her presidential ambitions.

(3) The Clintons game the system 24/7....their only goal in politics is to control the money.

“...................Like Obama, Hillary is an admirer of Saul Alinsky. She wrote her college thesis paper on his work. Phony populism was an essential component of Alinskys program. He urged his followers to appear middle class in order to influence the middle class.........”

Let us all remember this is the same couple that STOLE silver out of the Whitehouse on their way out.

AND

Who also took a deduction for donating his underwear to charity. But Hillary says they pay their taxes unlike the 1%ers.

One other little note of Record. ...
The reason “we were broke when we left the whitehouse” was because he was FINED by a federal judge something like 85k for intentionally misleading a Federal Court during a civil suit. He also paid off Paula Jones to the tune of something like 200k.

The Clintons: estate taxes for thee but not for me American Thinker ^ | 06/18/2014 | Thomas Lifson / FR Posted by SeekAndFind

Bill and Hillary Clinton are using perfectly legal, but complex and expensive legal strategies available only to the rich in order to avoid the estate taxes they have assured us are essential to fairness and economic justice. So much for the crusade against the 1% who are supposedly responsible for all the ills of everyone else.

Keeping Chelsea a wealthy member of the 1% is the apparent goal. Richard Rubin of Bloomberg report: Bill and Hillary Clinton have long supported an estate tax to prevent the U.S. from being dominated by inherited wealth. That doesnt mean they want to pay it.

To reduce the tax pinch, the Clintons are using financial planning strategies befitting the top 1 percent of U.S. households in wealth. These moves, common among multimillionaires, will help shield some of their estate from the tax that now tops out at 40 percent of assets upon death.

The Clintons created residence trusts in 2010 and shifted ownership of their New York house into them in 2011, according to federal financial disclosures and local property records. (snip)

The estate tax has been historically part of our very fundamental belief that we should have a meritocracy, Hillary Clinton said at a December 2007 appearance with billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who supports estate taxes and is using charitable donations to reduce his eventual bill. (Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...

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